When "Synthetic" Is Not Really Synthetic It is amazing how some news travels. Talking to people at car or trade shows over a display of AMSOIL products always involves interesting conversations on a variety of topics. Most questions are along the same lines, addressing cost of using synthetic oil, drainage intervals, and quality. AMSOIL provides a wealth of brochures and technical information, so the answers are readily available.

 

But over the last six months or so people keep coming up with one particular question: "Is AMSOIL still a real synthetic?" Evidently, the news that more "synthetic" oils are not really synthetic oils is getting around. In 1999, the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus ruled in Mobil Oil's challenge that Castrol's "advertisements inaccurately represented that the current formulation of Castrol® Syntec® is synthetic". Mobil's position was "true synthetics had to be formulated from small molecules subject to a chemical reaction, not built from natural petroleum". Castrol uses a "hydroprocessed mineral oil" (a Group III base stock) as the base stock in their "synthetic" Syntec oil. Previously, synthetic oil was accepted to mean the base stock was not conventional petroleum oil, regardless of refining process. This ruling changed all that. The most popular and best-performing conventional base stock was formulated with polyalphaolefin (PAO), together with other non-petroleum products, such as ester, to achieve optimum performance and seal swell. This is in essence the base stock used by AMSOIL. People are more than a little surprised when they hear that many oils now on the market that are labeled as "synthetic" are really conventional oils. They are being advertised and labeled as synthetic oil, but are really specially-refined conventional petroleum oil. People ask how these companies can do that. Excerpts from an article in Lubricants World Magazine entitled "A Defining Moment for Synthetics" reviewed the facts and circumstances around the challenge made by Mobil against Castrol's advertising. In essence, the term "synthetic" was determined to not be a scientific term, but was judged to be a marketing term. The definition of synthetic lubricants was broadened to the use of the term "synthetic" in referring to motor oil that had the ability to provide synthetic performance, but without defining synthetic performance. In other words, beauty is now in the eye of the beholder - but without full disclosure! Now, as a result of this ruling, many of the motor oils that you see on store shelves that say "synthetic" are not synthetic (in the classical sense), and could now be what used to be labeled a "synthetic-blend". According to Lubes n' Greases magazine (July 2001), "�most large lubricant producers moved quickly to replace PAO with Group III base stocks in their synthetic [passenger car motor oil] formulations." How can you tell? Price is one way. Hydrocracked oil, according to Lubes n' Greases, is $1.50 to $2.00 per gallon cheaper; half that of PAOs. But if it is labeled as a duck, does it walk like a duck? According to Lubes n' Greases, "PAO has a significant advantage in low-temperature performance. This could prove to be the handhold needed to pull base stock demand out of the [Group III] space and into PAO territory. Market development will be slow, but automakers specifying the use of 0W-30 and 0W-20 engine oil would drive such a victory. Since PAO may be the only show in town to met the cold-cranking specification for these grades, ultimately this could result in a prize for PAO bigger than the one it lost in its first major battle with Group III." Beyond the passenger car motor oil market, Lubes n' Greases says PAO still enjoys double-digit growth in many industrial lubricant applications. "Industrial end-users are far less enamored with the term "synthetic" than they are with the track record of success PAO has built handling extreme temperatures and other challenging operating conditions. PAO will continue to do battle with Group III in the industrial segment, but it remains a strong incumbent and is expected to not only hold its ground, but also grow. PAO continues to capture market share in heavy-duty gear oil applications and shows promise as a means to extend drains in heavy-duty diesel engines equipped with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR)." AMSOIL has proved its value in extended drain intervals and reduced wear testing performed by independent labs, as well as actual field testing. You don't get performance like this out of marketing words. The quality must be in the oil. AMSOIL has it. What kind of marketing terms are you using?